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E. A. BOUGHTON.

DEVICE FOR CURING TOBACCO.

No. 379,094. Patented Mar. 6, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EPNETUS A. BOUGHTON, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- THIRD TO STEPHEN B. DRASS, OF SAME PLACE.

DEVICE FOR CURING TOBACCO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,094, dated March 6, 1888.

Application filed September 9, 1887. Serial No. 249,245. (No model.)

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EPNETUS A. BOUGHTON, of Binghamton, in the State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Curing Tobacco; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in devices for curing tobacco; and it consists in the combination, in the sweat-room in which the tobacco is placed to be cured, of steampipes, which are placed-near the floor, with suitable vertical flues placed above the pipes for the purpose of causing a constant circulation of air in the sweat-room, as will be more fully described hereinafter.

The object of my invention is to produce a device by means of which the air in the sweatroom can be made to constantly circulate, and thus keep an even temperature atboth top and bottom of the room, and thus prevent all necessity of having to frequently change and shift the tobacco in the room, so that the tobacco will be cured alike at both the top and bottom of the room.

Figure l is a perspective of asweat-room to which my invention is applied, a portion of the room being broken away, so as to show the relative arrangement of parts. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the pipe or ventilator. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

A represents the sweat-room, in which the tobacco is stored in boxes to be cured. This room is locatedin any desired part of thebnilding, and is provided with a door, through which free access is obtained for the purpose of handling the tobacco.

In sweat rooms where no means are employed for equalizing the temperature at both the top and bottom of the room the warm air rises to the top ofthe room, and hence the tobacco in the upper portion of the room becomes sweated to a great degree, While the cooler air settles to the bottom of the room, and the tobacco placed in the boxes upon the floor is not sweated sufficiently. In order to overcome this trouble the boxes have frequently to be changed, so that those which are placed near the top of the room have to be placed at the bottom, and those which are at the bottom are placed near the top. This shifting and changing of the boxes entails a great deal of labor and expense, and hence adds greatly to the cost of the tobacco, besides requiring a longer time to cure the tobacco than where an even temperature is produced throughout the room.

Dried leaf-tobacco which has been dampened and placed in boxes to be sweated for the purpose of giving a darker color to the tobacco is to be treated in this apparatus. The tobacco is preferably placed in boxes for convenience in handling, and after having been moistened is placed in the room A, so as to be subjected to atemperature sufficiently high to both develop the qualities of the tobacco and to change its color to any desired extent. The tobacco to be treated is placed loosely in boxes, and the boxes are placed in this room A either upon racks or upon shelves, or may be packed one upon the top of the other, as may be preferred. The term cured used in this connection is intended to signify what is techni cally known as sweating, and its purpose is to give a darker color to the tobacco. It is the same change which takes place when vegetable matter is submitted to the action of warm moist air, the conditions for which the green tobacco itself maintains to a limited extent in the previous process, technically known as curing, and to which the treatment here given is supplemental. The room may be nearly filled with boxes, allowing only room between them to enable the workman to handle them. Passing into this room A at its bottom is a suitable steam-pipe, O, which is bent or coiled back and forth any suitable number of times, and by means of which pipe the room A is heated sufficiently so as to sweat the wet tobacco which is placed in boxes in the room. Placed in this room A are two circulating or equalizing pipes, B, just opposite each other,'and which have their lower ends enlarged or flared, so as to catch a larger quantity of air and cause a greater upward draft than would be possible were the lower ends of the pipes not enlarged. The lower end of the pipe B is preferably placed below the steam-pipe O and in the relation shown in Fig. 2. The lower end of the pipe approaches very close to the floor of the room. At a suitable distance above thelowcr end of the pipe B this pipe is increased in thickness, and at the bottom of this thickened portion is made a suitable opening, as shown at I which opening is also flared outward, so as to be increased in size. The vertical partition G extends upward inside of the pipe B a suitable distance above the opening F, so as to prevent the opening F from interfering with the upward draft of air which enters at the lower end of the pipe B. This flaring part forming opening F extends outward over the steam-pipe C, so that a portion of the heated currents of air rising from the steam-pipes will be caught by the opening F, and so pass upward to the top of the room through the pipe B. The upper end of the pipe B is open, so that the rising currents of air can freely escape therefrom.

By means of the construction herein shown and described the air is taken in at the bottom of the pipe B, and also at any suitabledistance above its lower end, and discharged into the V top of the room, thereby causing a constant circulation of air, which equalizes the temperature in all parts of the room. The consequence is that the tobacco packed in the room is cured evenly from the top to the bottom, and all necessity for constantly shifting the boxes is entirely done away with. After the tobacco has been placed in the sweatroom and the steam turned on, the room is closed and need not be opened until the tobacco is thoroughly cured, which takes about eighteen days. There is no necessity for any COUIIDU' nication with the air outside of this room, for the air heated therein is kept in constant mo tion or currents until a perfect equilibrium is established and the temperature is the same at every point. When the cooler air sinks to the floor of the room, it is heated by coming in contact with the steam-pipe O, and in rising from the pipes a portion of it is caught by the pipes B, which conduct the heated air to the top of the room. This movement is kept up until the air throughout the room has the same temperature, and hence the boxes of tobacco placed upon or near the floor are acted upon in the same manner as those higher up. The upward currents of heated air are more active, and being confined by the pipes B they must rise. If not properly directed or not directed at all, they seriously interfere with the downward currents of colder-air, and consequently there is a greater difierenee between the atmosphere of the upper and'lower air in the room than is desirable for the purpose of uniform effect on the tobacco without shifting it. To overcome this difficulty the heated currents are to a certain extent directed to the sides by the pipes B, which are so constructed as to force the coldest air near the floor to rise.

I do not limit myself to the number of ventilating-pipes B employed in a room, nor to any particular arrangement of the steam-pipes G, as this is a mere matter of choice. In an ordinary sweat-room I have found that two ventilating-pipes are sufficient.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. in a closed sweat-room, the combination of the heating-pipes 0, located in the bottom and preferably at the side of the room, with a circulating or equalizing pipe or pipes placed inside of the room, and which are open at both ends and placed in such relation to the heating-pipe that upward currents of air are caused to pass through the pipes, substantially as shown.

2. In a closed sweat-room, the combination 'of a circulating or equalizing pipe, B, open at both of its ends and having an opening, F, through its side at any suitable distance above the floor, with the steampipe O, which is located in the bottom of the room and in suitable relation to the pipe B, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a closedsweat-room, of the heating-pipes 0, located in the bottom of the room, and the circulating or equalizing pipes arranged in suitable relation thereto, the circulating-pipes being provided with overhanging openings Fin their sides, and vertical partitions G, which extend a suitable distance abovethe openings F, substantially asset forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EPNETUS A. BOUGHTON.

Vitnesses:

THOMA THORNE, Srnrnnu B. DRASS. 

